Brown Jr. pretrial delayed one week

A Norwalk youth accused of fatally stabbing another teenager in a suspected bout of gang violence will seek reduced bail and a probable cause hearing next week.

Meanwhile, affidavits for the case remain sealed while the state prosecutor redacts names of witnesses in related shootings.

As he walked into the courtroom at Stamford Superior Court Thursday, Amos "A.J." Brown Jr., 16, glanced briefly at the family of Tykwan Hunt, the 17-year-old Bridgeport resident whom he allegedly stabbed to death on Jan. 11. A party on Linden Street in Norwalk that night, attended by roughly 100 teenagers, erupted into violence, and three other youths were stabbed. Hunt was found dead the next morning behind some shrubbery in a McDonald's parking lot.

Brown Jr., of 7 Orchard St., was charged with murdering Hunt after turning himself in to Norwalk police on Feb. 18. His pretrial proceedings were scheduled for Thursday, but because his previous public defender is due to retire, senior assistant public defender Howard A. Ehring asked for an extra week of preparation.

The court is set to determine on April 17 whether to hold a hearing for probable cause, at which the state must prove there is sufficient evidence to bring the case to trial.

Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Valdes asked that sworn affidavits remain sealed until he can ensure witness names remain private in two related shootings. He would not say to which incidents he was referring during Thursday's proceedings, but police have confirmed two shootings on Orchard Street since Hunt's murder.

Phyllis Johnson, a resident of Orchard Street, told The Hour after a March 11 incident that the shooter was trying to intimidate her son, who was one of the stabbing victims following the Linden Street party.

Norwalk police did not say Thursday whether any other arrest warrants are pending related to the shootings or the Brown case.

Brown Jr. is being held at Manson Youth Institution in Cheshire on a $500,000 bail. Ehring said he will try to secure a reduction next week, but wouldn't provide a dollar figure.

"Halfway would be nice," Brown Jr.'s father, Amos Brown Sr., said Thursday, adding that even less would be better.